chapter four mark gospel chapter four and verse thirty five The same day when the evening was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. When they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships. There rose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we carry. And he arose and rebuked the wind and set unto the tree, Peace be filled, and the wind ceased, and there was a great palm. He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this? that even the wind and the sea obeyed him. For the sake of those three little words in verse thirty-six that I've read the passage again, other little ships. The night before last we were speaking on this passage, pointing out the fact that the disciples given instructions to get into the ship and to go to the other side, and in the midst of that void a great storm broke upon them. And they thought they were going to perish. They cried out, Save us, we perish. Yet they had his promise. They were going to the other side. In addition to that, they had himself. How could they think when they had his promise and his presence? And it is absolutely impossible for those who are saved, to know Christ, to perish. Because they have his promise of eternal life. and furthermore they have himself Christ in you, the hope of Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he arose to the occasion, and in answer to the plea and prayer of those frightened disciples, he said, Peace be still, and there was a great calm. They were quite upset and disturbed and frightened about the storm, but now that he had quieted the storm, they were still frightened, increasingly so. But this time it was about the one who had quieted the sea. What manner of man is this? They got their eye off the element, on to the one who controlled the element. They got their eye away from creation to the Creator. They now began to fear him more than they feared the element, and rightly so. Unfriend, it's a grand thing when we get our eyes off those movable, transitory things upon Christ themselves. And it behooves every person to fear the Lord Jesus more than they fear the element. Quite often, tornadoes strike down in our part of the country, and I presume out here too, and how men and women become frightened and seek a place of shelter in a time or tornadoes or of a hurricane. creep through the land. But I want to say that there's one to be feared more than the fearing of hurricanes. Because he can save you from that hurricane, or he can destroy you by. And so it be who's us to fear him, the Lord be, the master of the sea, the Lord of his own creation. But I want to speak mostly now on those three words, other words. little ship. You know it's wonderful to see the Lord Jesus end our troubles as he did on this occasion. Why, it must have been a wonderful sight, a great thrill to see the Son of God rise up in all his dignity and say, Peace be still, and watch the waves subside and stop themselves to sleep. In a moment he ironed them out. But you know, it had been more pleasing to him Had they not awakened him, had they only watched him sleep on the storm-wraised, for they were dead. But here is selfishness coming up. Lord, save us, we perish. Sanfishing, they did not think of those other little ships that were being tossed about on that angry sea. All they thought about was themselves. save us. We're the ones in jeopardy. We're in danger. We perish. That is an absolute contradiction to Christianity. In other words, Christianity is rooted in unsalcitance. God gave His Son. Christ gave Himself. And Paul says we ought to lay down our lives for our better. Christ says, go ye into all the world. Leave the comforts of home. Leave those things of personal interest. Go, he says. Look on the field. They're white already to harvest. Look away from yourself. That's the lesson. All these exhortations are to direct the Christian away from himself to other persons and things. And yet isn't it true? personally see, I find it constantly in my own heart, my interests come first. No, say me, on the take for me, shoot out for me, and we seem to forget others. Other little ships. I wonder this morning if we could think of others and the needs of others. You know, in visiting, and we do quite a bit of it down in the Southland, we visit people who are sick and listen to their story. One will say something like this, oh, I've lost one child and it's awful. I haven't been able to get over it. Sometimes I suggest it's sad, but I can tell you of someone who lost two children, three children, four children, five children, six children. Another says, but I had one operation. It's awful. Yes, so does it. But I can tell you someone who had twenty-one operations, my old nephew, Alenda. But I've had one week of pain. That's bad. But I can tell you some who had years of pain, a lifetime of pain. Other little ships are all with others worse off than ourselves. Mrs. Gladstone, a few hours after the death of her husband, was found in a home, seeking words of comfort to another who had just lost her husband. She found another little ship. Queen Victoria crushed when St. Albert died, yet her first word? of Trump's public sympathy, of tender sympathy, where to the wise and children of two hundred men killed in the mine disaster of eighteen sixty-two. Queen Victoria found many other little ships being tossed about on light's rough teeth. Elijah says, Lord, can you remember he was sailing waters of persecution? Lord, he says, I only am left. They seek my life. Don't you worry, Elijah. You're not the only one sailing these seas. There are seven thousand who haven't yet bowed beneath the bay. And it's very solemn and searching to note that after Elijah, not only of himself, I only am less. I am the only loyal one, the true one. God says, anoint Elijah. Anoint you for seven. I cannot use you anymore. You're too much concerned about sense, sense, sense. I owe you to me. How often do we forget these other little shifts? Do we not learn by comparison? How often in visiting the hospital do you go from room to room, and you see these various ones suffering? and it's tragic, it's heart-sickening, and I don't know what more one can do when they emerge from those institutions, those hospitals with the sick and the groaning, the dying, and the heartaches of loved ones raised hand anxiously around the bedside. I feel every time I come out of a hospital like bowing my head and thanking God. Oh, these others, sailing lights from the other little ships. You go to Asylum, you see those glassy eyes, those frightened lairs looking at you from behind the bars. But for the grace of God you might be in one of those tales. Other, other little ships. But remember those other little ships didn't have Christ in them. They were evidently smaller craft than the ones the disciples were in. They had no promise that they were going to the other side. There they were being tossed around on those angry waves. No promise and no Christ. And yet all the disciples thought about was themselves. They lost. We perish. How often those we see suffering, but in these various institutions know nothing of Christ. You go to a blind institution and there you see them, being taught to work with their hands. But oh, tragedy that tragedies, they're blind spiritually. Other little ships, you go to the poor house, the same thing, other little ships everywhere. Maybe someone in the next block to you far worse off than you are. And yet all your prayers are about yourself. All your interests and your concerns are about yourself. And you've forgotten these other little ships. Hiding every one of us here this morning, seated in this bowl, enjoying a week's vacation in this lovely valley, far removed from the scene of conflict. Surely we can say the lines have fallen unto us in certain places. We have a goodly heritage. And yet let us not forget those we've left behind. Let us not forget those in this valley who know not the Lord Jesus. And because of our comfort we forget the needs of others, other little shifts. There are a few things that would have pleased the Lord Jesus, I believe, very much on this occasion. That is, had the disciples watch them sleep. And as they arrived at the other side, they waited until he awoke. And the Lord looked at them and said, Brethren, my brethren, what kind of a voyage did you have? Oh, Master, it was an awful voyage. It was a terrible storm. You can see the water in the boat. We didn't think we'd make it. Well, my brethren, were you not afraid? Not a bit, Lord. You were afraid? No. Why weren't you afraid? Well, Lord, didn't you tell us we were going to the other side? When we had you here in the boat, why should we be afraid? Don't you think that would have pleased him? Wouldn't that have delighted his heart to have seen utter an utmost compliment in himself? Yes, that would have pleased him. Another thing would have pleased him. That is, if they had awakened him as they did, but instead of saying, Lord, save us, we perish, and they awakened them and said, Lord, look at these other little ships. They're about to go down. They're helpless. They're smaller hosts than ours. They don't have you, Lord. They don't have your promise. Lord, we awakened you that you might do something and help us to do something for these other little ships. I think that too would have pleased me. Oh, instead of saying, Lord, save us, take on me, do thou for me, Lord. Oh, Lord, we'd like to stir you up, if that is necessary. We would like, as it were, to awaken you, Lord, that you might do something for others. Those who know not Christ, use us to reach them. For as we look out upon life's stormy sea, we find merry women everywhere, being tossed around and about upon the circumstances, the sad tragedies of life. They have no hope of heaven. They have no assurance of salvation. They are without Christ. They know not the way to be saved. And yet, we don't seem to think about these other little shifts. I think That would have pleased our Lord, had the disciples awakened him on behalf of others. And so the two things would have pleased them. To have watched them sleep through the storm. That would have meant complete trust in him instead of unbelief. And then to have awakened him on behalf of others. Exercise for others instead of exercise for self. or selfishness. And so may we think of these other little shifts. Think about others. Learn lessons by comparison. My mother passed away two years ago. She was a widow for about ten years before she went home to be with the Lord. I used to travel to Canada every Christmas to spend Christmas with My mother was a lovely Christian. She'd read the Bible through some thirty times before she became blind. Naturally, she was lonely. She was now eighty years of age. And I remember, and it was the only time I can remember my life, that I saw my mother break down and cry and complain with loneliness. She's, oh, my boy, you don't know what it is. You're the way down south. But here I am day after day the same poor wall. I'm all alone. It's awfully lonely. She began complaining about a little bit of this and a little bit of that. She wasn't getting the attention she thought she should get. She thought she should get. As it happens that on that trip north I had just heard about an old couple. past seventy who were in the concentration camp in Japan during the last war. And I said, Mother, I want to tell you something. And I told her about this elderly couple missionary in the concentration camp. And I said, There wasn't a green blade of grass in that camp. They had eaten it like oxen, like cattle. They had disease of various kinds, physical discomforts, and no sanity of any kind, or nothing that would minister to their comforts. One of the boys of this old couple was on a ship going to promote, and they heard that the ship had been torpedoed by the Japanese. or been defeated by the United States, I think it was, and thus they thought their boy was lost. They grieved over that, this old couple. Here they were, old, sick, nothing to eat, and the sorrow of their son going down. During the night, rats used to run over their bodies, and oh, if anyone could only catch a rat. They had a luxury to flake their teeth into a rat. The old gentleman made some kind of a contraction he thought would serve as a rat trap. If only he could catch a rat. It happened to be the night before Christmas. The next morning... He awakened, and to his delight, he awakened his wife. He said, we've got a rat. The trap was smashed up. And oh, he was so happy. A rat was for Christmas. He found the stick. The old gentleman, the only way he knew how to get the rat was to lift the trap and club it as it ran out. And as he lifted the trap, He was too weak. He missed it. And the two of them sat and sobbed like children who had missed their Christmas dinner. I told that to my mother. I said, Mother, you don't have anything like that, do you? You're going to have a good Christmas dinner. You're not in the concentration camp. You're in a lovely home. The home is well heated. You have three meals a day, a comfortable bed to sleep on at night. Is there any comparison? She dried her eye, she said, my son, I'm sorry. God is so good to us, isn't it? We seem to forget what others are passing through. And I don't know any better way. for you to get yourself out of your dungeons, as we said. Then to think upon us, a fellow was saved in meetings we had in Winston-Salem by the name of Cromer. Herman Cromer, he was a wonderful trophy of great. But he had a serious operation, and the operation affected his nerves. And he just about beat a path from his house to where I was staying, that every morning he'd come in, and we'd have to listen to the same thing for about an hour. All he talked about was himself. One day I got him just as he stepped inside the door. I said, Herman, listen, I want you to get down the street as fast as you can and nail the first man you see and drive him by Lafala this coat. Ask him if he's saved and if he isn't, tell him how you got saved. Now try that. But out he went. And he got a real thrill out of it. He forgot Herman Troma for a little while. and he tried it more than once. And friend, if you want to be happy as a Christian, when you feel yourself down to them, turn yourself up for the bootstrapping, and ask and speak to someone about Christ, visit someone who's worse off than you, and think of these other little chips, the needs of us. You remember when that great fortress in Indochina failed the NBNQs, fell to the Chinese a couple of three years ago. I remember the newscaster interviewing that noble nurse, that French nurse. She was the only woman in the fortress. And he interviewed her over the radio, and I heard the interview. And he said to her, I understand that you didn't have any to eat hardly for four days. that you didn't sleep or wink for four days or four nights. Or not the shot in the shell was falling all around you and the enemy was coming in. Weren't you afraid? She said no. Well, weren't you tired? Well, I suppose I was. You mean to say that you weren't afraid, you weren't tired, and you weren't conscious of your own desperate flight, and you'd been working for four days and four nights, and the Communists were closing in? Well, she said to tell you the truth, they were bringing in our French boys wounded and dying, and there were so many around there that I was the only one. She said, to be honest, I didn't have any time to think about myself. She said, I didn't know I'd been four days without sleep. She said, I was so busy, waiting upon our wounded and dying soldier boys. I didn't think of myself. Isn't that the remedy? All the needs that surround us. There's so much that could get us away from ourselves. these other little chips. Although there have been various approaches to a life of victory in Christ, a life of abiding in Christ, a life of the enjoyment of the life in Christ, there are various approaches to that subject and some we've had before us. But I try and give another formula this morning of that vision. If a Christian would do what the disciples should have done, on this occasion, just rested in the Lord, not awakened, let him sleep. If he can sleep during the storm, so can I. For it is just as impossible for me to think as it is for him, because I am linked up with him. I am a member of this body. Complete trust in Christ. That is the one thing. Get us there. Then the second thing is to think of the need of us. And if you as a Christian will exercise complete trust in the Lord and be exercised about the need of us, be they unsaved who need Christ, who are Christians who need counsel and counsel. If you turn your eyes upon others and completely trust in the Lord, I think you'll have another formula for a happy, distant life. Think about these other little things.